Toshiba TEC Partners with Newbury Data for Bar Code Label Validation

TOSHIBA TEC, a global manufacturer of retail and industrial information systems, has announced a partnership deal with Newbury Data providers of on-line barcode validators.

Some 200,000 desktop thermal printers are purchased every year in Europe and most are used to print a barcode label, tag or ticket.  Unlike laser or inkjet models, thermal printers do not notify users if there is a problem such as media mismatch or a dirty print head. This in turn effects print quality and results in unreadable labels.  With nearly 1% of all barcode labels failing, a considerable 10,764,000 a year, the effects are hard felt, with customers experiencing serious bottlenecks and manual intervention in automated systems which are designed to improve processes and save money. 

To overcome this problem, Toshiba worked with Newbury Data who developed the SecurPrint solution specifically for Toshiba TEC thermal printers.  As a result the B-SX series of printers will now be connected to Newbury Data's SecurPrint scanner which provides on-line bar code validators to eliminate un-readable bar codes.   SecurPrint is a cost effective solution which simply identifies and eliminates "no read" or "incorrect data" barcodes before they are applied or accepted into an applicator, the solution automatically ensures that the correct barcode is then reprinted.

The TOSHIBA TEC B-SX series of thermal transfer/ direct thermal printers are high performing industrial  printers which offer high-speed printing, RFID functionality and powerful networking capabilities, these adaptable industrial printers are suitable for all types of environments particularly where there is a requirement for printing high volumes of labels such as manufacturing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, electronics and telecoms.

The SecurPrint program is simply loaded into the printer and runs automatically, the scanner is positioned so that it can read labels as they exit the printer.  On initialisation, the program checks the printer parameters ie label length, print speed and printer model.   Commands are then sent by the program to the scanner to set it up for the required application ie barcode types, lengths and horizontal combinations.  When the labels are printed the barcode data read by the scanner is compared with the stored barcode data. If the data matches, then the printer continues with the next label.  If there is a mismatch or missing data the label is identified as faulty.  The printer automatically retracts the faulty label and overprints it making it  un-usable.  A new label is then reprinted from the stored input and rechecked.